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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26805991">withered leaves among decay</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/obstinateRixatrix/pseuds/obstinateRixatrix'>obstinateRixatrix</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Xianxia, deadpan irreverent hermit/excruciatingly normal office worker who's had a very bad day</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:21:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,225</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26805991</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/obstinateRixatrix/pseuds/obstinateRixatrix</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>oc project 2. ex-medical examiner (now exorcist by technicality) finds the body of a city clerk in the woods.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Original Female Character/Original Female Character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>withered leaves among decay</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this literally came to me in a dream</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ōu Qiūfēi finds a body in the woods.</p><p>It’s lying face down in the dirt, long black hair falling out of a partial bun adorned with a mess of twigs and leaves. The body is dressed in what’s perhaps a uniform of some sort—modest outer robes a dark enough blue that Ōu Qiūfēi almost misses the massive bloodstain marring them. From the looks of it, the cause of death was probably a stab through the shoulder and then blood loss over the course of many, many hours. What a miserable way to go. No wonder there’s such strong resentment clinging to the body.</p><p>“Better luck in the next life,” Ōu Qiūfēi says before unceremoniously slapping down a talisman.</p><p>The paper instantly burns to ash, overwhelmed by resentment strong enough to destroy her (honestly speaking, slapdash and relatively low-tier) dispersal talisman. Which means the body might just be on the cusp of turning into a fierce corpse. Not ideal, but easily mitigated as long as Ōu Qiūfēi sinks every last talisman on hand into the task; that should at least put a dent in the lingering resentment, hopefully rendering the fierce corpse harmless enough until morning.</p><p>Ōu Qiūfēi is on her eighth talisman when the body lets out a remarkably un-corpselike groan. </p><p>“Stop that,” it says, lethargically waving the bloodied resentment-saturated sword it was apparently lying on top of. “Five more minutes.”</p><p>…</p><p>…</p><p>…</p><p>The body, satisfied by the lack of resentment-dispersing talismans, goes back to being… unconscious, apparently. </p><p>Hm.</p><p>It seems further investigation is required. So she examines the body with a bit more care. Yep, still alive, pulse and everything, and despite all the blood not an open wound in sight. Conveniently enough, there’s a card identifying the not-corpse as Zǔ Shèng, age 32 (according to her date of birth), a clerk for the department of municipal affairs. A clerk who, for some reason, is cursed as fuck (quite possibly due to the extremely cursed sword in her posession).</p><p>Ōu Qiūfēi is absolutely under-qualified for dealing with whatever’s going on here. But she’s also the only person around who can deal with it. </p><p>She starts the arduous task of dragging the unconscious woman to her cabin (which is a twenty minute walk even without not-so dead weight). Zǔ Shèng doesn’t wake up the entire trip, which is as impressive as it is inconvenient; she just grumbles over particularly rough terrain, maintaining a (not-so) death grip on the sword. Navigating around the sword is a hazard that significantly hinders progress, but Ōu Qiūfēi has lived her entire life thus far not being cursed by a sword and intends to keep it that way. She doesn’t mess with it.</p><p>Finally, after eons of careful maneuvering, Ōu Qiūfēi makes it home. </p><p>The woman remains unconscious long enough for Ōu Qiūfēi to grind up some ink, set up a binding array, write out some talismans, and fall asleep at her desk. It must be a solid few hours later when a strangled yelp wakes her up. Zǔ Shèng, now conscious, backs away from the edge of the array, rubbing her head in bewilderment.</p><p>“Ow,” she says. Then, “I’m alive? What <em> is </em>that? Why am I so... sore...?” She pats at her left shoulder, perhaps wincing at bruises that could be from when Ōu Qiūfēi had to yank her up the stone path to her house, but she could just as easily be bothered by the stab wound that should exist (but doesn’t).</p><p>“Before we get into that, I need some answers.” Ōu Qiūfēi grabs a brush and a sheet of paper. “Any dizziness? Lack of clarity?”</p><p>“Well, I just woke up, so—“</p><p>“Any pressure on your chest, something like a physical weight?”</p><p>“No, not really?“</p><p>“Any urge to kill and/or severely maim? This includes general bloodlust, specific individuals—“</p><p>“Of course not!” Zǔ Shèng cries, aghast.</p><p>“Alright.” After writing up some other observations, Ōu Qiūfēi throws her notes into the lamp at her desk. Being pretty shitty paper, it lights up very fast. Then she walks over and scuffs the array enough to break it. The ink, having dried a while ago, will be a massive pain to clean up. “You’re free to go.”</p><p>“Wait, wait, wait, what? You can’t just do that, I have questions of my own! Who are you!?”</p><p>“Ōu Qiūfēi.”</p><p>“Where am I!?”</p><p>“My house.”</p><p>“What’s with all this!?”</p><p>“From the looks of it, you have the dubious fortune of being extremely cursed by that sword of yours.” Ōu Qiūfēi shrugs. “Had to make sure it wasn’t the bloodthirsty kind.”</p><p>“I’m WHAT!?” Zǔ Shèng shrieks. “No, no, this can’t be happening, this isn’t something that happens to people like me, you must’ve made some kind of mistake! I’m just a normal clerk!”</p><p>Ōu Qiūfēi scoffs. “You’ve got too much resentment for that.”</p><p>“I, I think I’m a reasonable amount of petty—?“</p><p>“The stuff that turns dead bodies into fierce corpses,” Ōu Qiūfēi clarifies. “And—I can’t emphasize this enough—most of it seems to be from that extremely cursed sword you’re holding.”</p><p>“Then,” Zǔ Shèng says, dropping her sword and backing away from it, “all I have to do is get rid of—“</p><p>She doubles over, coughing up blood; the previously-dried stain on her shoulder seems to be getting much darker very quickly. Ōu Qiūfēi pulls on a thick glove and grabs the sword which is <em> fucking </em> heavy (weighed down by the anger of resentful spirits or whatever) but she manages to drag it over to Zǔ Shèng and wrap her hand around its hilt. The coughing, bleeding, and dying stops.</p><p>“Maybe don’t do that,” Ōu Qiūfēi says.</p><p>“Augh,” Zǔ Shèng says. </p><p>Given that she almost died just now, Ōu Qiūfēi graciously gives Zǔ Shèng some time to collect herself. </p><p>“So,” Ōu Qiūfēi starts, once—by her count—enough time passes, “how exactly did you get that sword?”</p><p>“I, I, I don’t remember!?”</p><p>Yeah, right.</p><p>“Okay that—I don’t know why I lied, I remember. Well, it’s not actually a lie, there’s some things that are pretty hazy… there’s nothing really to it, I just got… stabbed.”</p><p>“You got stabbed,” Ōu Qiūfēi repeats.</p><p>“I got stabbed,” Zǔ Shèng confirms. She rubs her shoulder. “So, do I just… have to hold this sword for the rest of my life? Why is it keeping me alive? <em> Is </em>it keeping me alive? Is it going to kill me!? Is it going to make me kill!? I can’t go home like this!!” Zǔ Shèng turns towards Ōu Qiūfēi, desperation plain across her face. “Exorcist Ōu—”</p><p>“Not an exorcist.”</p><p>“Cultivator Ōu?”</p><p>“Not a cultivator.”</p><p>“Honorable Ōu,” Zǔ Shèng says firmly. “You’re clearly an expert in this kind of stuff—”</p><p>“Not really.”</p><p>“—do you think you could, I don’t know, poke around and see if I can get… uncursed?”</p><p>…</p><p>…</p><p>...</p><p>Ōu Qiūfēi heaves a sigh and rolls her eyes. As annoying as it would be to involve herself in someone else’s business, it’d at least be a good research opportunity. “Look, I’ll see what I can do, but I only know the bare basics of dealing with resentment—don’t get your hopes up. Also, it’ll have to wait until after morning exercise.”</p><p>“Ōu Qiūfēi...! I can’t thank you enough!” Zǔ Shèng bows thrice, eyes shining with way too much gratitude considering her magnanimous benefactor promised her absolutely nothing. Then, “What morning exercise?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>zǔ shèng: having an absolute normal one at the office today lads<br/>zǔ shèng: just got stabbed by an extremely cursed sword</p><p>this one's shorter &amp; not as outlined as nfsftlots so we'll see how it goes lol</p><p>I think 怨气 gets translated as resentful energy but I confirmed with dad it's just like. a word people use. so I just went with 'resentment' because it's funnier. </p><p>Ōu Qiūfēi - 歐秋霏 - ou is a last name, qiu is autumn, fei is snowfall<br/>Zǔ Shèng - 俎盛 - Zu is a last name but it's also like. stuff to do with sacrificial alters (lol) and can have multiple phonetic pronunciations. sheng can also be cheng but when it's sheng it means a bunch of different stuff including prosperous (lol). when it's cheng it means sacrificial grains (LOL).</p><p>more important information: zs is ram (32) and oqf is rooster (42)</p><p>thanks lex, april, and liz for the once over!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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